Mapping the past - a guide to the cartographic heritage of the Clyde and Avon Valley

Mapping The Past

A Guide to the Cartographic Heritage of the Clyde and Avon Valley

CAVLP HERITAGE Our History Shaping Our Future

www.clydeandavonvalley.org

Places to Visit

Motherwell

Hamilton 1. Milton Head, Carluke Birthplace of William Roy Trig Point

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2. Cleghorn Temporary Roman Camp

Wa te r

3. Black Hill Prehistoric Settlement Trig Point

Larkhall

4. Chatelherault Hamilton Hunting Lodge 5. Hill of Kilncadzow Trig Point 6. Headshill Trig Point 7. Marshill Trig Point

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Glassford

Stonehouse

8. Draan Crop Marks 9. Dalserf & Nemphlar Notable Place Names

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Strathaven

10. Cadzow Colliery Site of Geological Interest

Key

11. Riverside Tavern Alasdair Gray Mural

Places to Visit Settlement CAVLP Area Boundary

Mapping the Past is delivered by Northlight Heritage, a partner on the Heritage Lottery Fund supported Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership (CAVLP), a project helping to celebrate and conserve one of Scotland’s most beautiful landscapes.

Wishaw

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Law Dalserf

5

Carluke

1

Rosebank

r Clyd e ve

Ri

8

Braidwood

2

9

Crossford

Nemphlar Hazelbank

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Blackwood

11

KirkďŹ eldbank

Lanark

New Lanark

Lesmahagow

Mapping the Past Welcome to the Mapping the Past Guide to the Cartographic Heritage of the Clyde and Avon Valley. Explore the life and accomplishments of Carluke-born Major-General William Roy, the father of modern cartography and track the development of mapping since his time. Learn about different kinds of maps and how they help historians and archaeologists understand the past and landscape in more detail.

This guide has been designed to highlight the cartographic heritage of the Clyde and Avon Valley. Each site can be visited on its own and in any order.

Three short trails are: Miltonhead (1) - Dalserf (9) - Chatelherault (4) (1.5 - 2 hrs.)

Milton Head (1) - Hill of Kilncadzow (5) - Cleghorn (2) - Kirkfieldbank (11) (1.5 - 2 hrs.)

Milton Head (1) - Draffan (8) - Blackhill (3) - Kirkfieldbank (11) (2 - 2.5 hrs.)

Trails and digital copies of the guide as well as details of where to park and the best roads to take can be found on our website: www.clydeandavonvalley.org/trail The sites are accessible by foot or car. For public transport information go to www.travelinescotland.com. Visiting some sites will require walking uphill or on uneven ground, so ensure you are wearing appropriate footwear. When visiting the places in this guide, please follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code: www.outdooraccess-scotland.com We hope that you enjoy the guide and the beautiful landscapes and archaeological sites of the Clyde and Avon Valley!

Paul Sandby’s Watercolor, A View From Loch Rannoch. Courtesy of The British Library.

Milton Head Birthplace of Modern Mapping

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NS 825 495

William Roy was born at Milton Head in 1726. By his death in 1790, Major-General Roy had changed the way we make maps – and consequently see the world – forever.

Amongst his many achievements were the Military Survey of Scotland 1747-55; his posthumously-published survey of the Military Antiquities of the Romans in North Britain (1793); and the Hounslow Heath Baseline which lead to the Principal Triangulation of Great Britain. Roy’s dedication to mapping and his perseverance in lobbying for a comprehensive mapping project for the nation led to the foundation of the Ordnance Survey (OS), one year after his death in 1791.

In 1956 a monument in the form of a Trig Point was erected in his honour, by the OS, at the site of his birthplace at Milton Head, just outside Carluke.

While the house in which Roy was born is marked on his Military Survey, the building has long since disappeared. However many of the other features marked by Roy can still be seen, especially the fields and field boundaries that surround the site.

Another memorial to William Roy can be found in the town square of Carluke. So rather than taking the car, you can park in Carluke town centre and walk between the two memorials. You might actually walk the route which William Roy may have travelled as a young boy to the schoolhouse in Carluke High Street.

Monument to William Roy, Milton Head.

Cleghorn

Mapping the Roman Past

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One of Roy’s most important achievements was his survey of the Military Antiquities of the Romans in North Britain.

Roy recorded many of the Roman remains of northern Britain for this first time. While archaeology has advanced our knowledge of this period, Roy’s surveys continue to provide us with important information, as many sites have been destroyed or damaged since the 18th century.

Indeed, it has even been suggested that Roy’s surveys have “never been entirely superseded”.

Roy’s survey of the Roman Camp at Cleghorn, seen below, remains one of the best records we have of this important Roman site.

The camp, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, dates to the middle of the 2nd century AD. It is an irregular parallelogram in plan and encloses an area of 18.9 Ha, or around 12 football pitches. It would have been able to accommodate two marching legions of around of 12,000 men.

The camp occupies a defensive position overlooking the Roman road where it crosses the Mouse Water, and has extensive views to the south and west. The Roman road leads to Castledykes Roman Fort two kilometers to the South-West and the Antonine Wall to the North.

The monument is best preserved in Forestry Commission Scotland’s Camp Wood, where traces of the ditch and rampart can still be seen.

Extract from William Roy’s Military Antiquities of the Romans in Northern Britain.

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Black Hill

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More than just a Viewpoint?

NS 832 433

The National Trust view point at Black Hill is celebrated as being one of the best places to view the Clyde and Avon Valley.

However Black Hill is also the location of a later prehistoric settlement and it is possible that people would have been living here as far back as 1000 BC. As you walk up the hill you will first encounter a large grass covered Trig Point on top of Black Hill. rampart, which encloses up to three house platforms, which are typical late Bronze Age (c. 1500BC – 800BC) settlements in the southern uplands of Scotland.

Attached to this first enclosed space is a much larger enclosure, often referred to as a fort. This possible later addition to the hill is probably of Iron Age date (c.800BC – 300AD). The grass covered rocky rampart encloses a massive area of 3.1Ha and is one of the largest hilltop sites in the area. Within the enclosure are a number of possible house platforms.

At the northern end of the enclosure is the Trig Point, which sits on top of a possible Bronze Age cairn, offering panoramic views of the region. If the mound on which the Trig Point is a Bronze Age cairn, then there may be burials within it, meaning that the hill was also an important place to bury the dead in the past.

Aerial view of Black Hill courtesy of HES Scotland.

Chatelherault

Designing the Landscape

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The Clyde and Avon Valley’s distinctive appearance is a signiďŹ cant part of why we value them. Woodlands, orchards, hedgerows, historic houses and their designed landscapes form patterns along the course of these two rivers, contributing to this unique and beautiful landscape which has been adapted by people for hundreds of years.

The Clyde and Avon Valley contains at least 41 designed gardens and landscapes. A designed landscape is an area that was consciously laid out for artistic eect; the remains of which can be seen in the gardens and wider estates of the great houses built in the area from the 18th century.

One of the most important designed landscapes in the Clyde and Avon Valley is Chatelherault, and the High and Low Parks of Hamilton. Much of this once grand estate was lost through urban devlopment and quarrying, but William Roy recorded the estate at its height, as part of his Military Survey of Scotland.

Looking at Roy’s map we can see how Chatelherault and Hamilton would have looked in the middle of the 18th century, oering us a historical snap shot of one of Scotland’s most signiďŹ cant landscapes.

The extent of the grand avenue can be best seen from the front of Chatelherault where rows of trees have been replanted to create an impression of what the landscape would have looked like in the past.

Another important designed landscape in the Clyde and Avon Valley which was mapped by Roy, is Dalzell. The estate now incorporates part of the RSPB reserve of Baron Haugh and many of the original designed garden features can still be seen.

Both of these parks are open to the public and have excellent facilities, trails, walks and paths.

â—‹

Extract from William Roy’s Military Survey of Scotland showing Chatelherault and the Grand Avenue to Hamilton Palace.

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Trig Points

Mapping the Nation

It’s 80 years since Trig Points were first used to Map the Nation. They were designed by Brigadier Martin Hotine to assist in the re-triangulation of Great Britain. The re-triangulation needed fixed points located across the whole country, which could be used to mount survey instruments.

From each of these points it was possible to see at least two other Trig Points on a clear day.

Using TRIGonometry, a system of triangles could be established between these points and across the nation. From these triangles accurate measurements of features and buildings could be taken, allowing for more detailed mapping than had been possible before.

6500 Trig Points were erected across the whole of the UK and five survive in and around the Clyde and Avon Valley.

These can be found at: 1. Blackhill TP1414 NS 832 433

Hamilton

2. Hill of Kincadzow TP4206 NS 888 487 3. Headshill TP3699 NS 715 477 4. Marshill TP4676 NS 784 452 5. Miltonhead TP4842 NS 825 495

Larkhall

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Carluke

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1 Lesmahagow

Trig Point layout in CAVLP area.

Lanark

Aerial Archaeology Mapping from the Skies

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NS 736 539

Aerial photography is a key tool used by archaeologists to understand and map the landscape. Aerial photographs have the ability to reveal hidden features not easily visible on the ground in the form of cropmarks.

Cropmarks are formed when the growing rates of crops like wheat are changed by buried archaeology. The crop is longer remains of ditches or pots holes, buried crop is shorter below the ground, hold more moisture than the surrounding soil, and the crops planted above them can grow faster and stronger. The difference between the crop growing rates produce an effect that can be seen from the air and buried foundations plotted on to maps, allowing us to see buried ditch (soil is deeper) (soil is shallow over the wall) buried and badly damaged archaeological features.

How crop marks are formed.

Although a quiet farm today, evidence from aerial photographs suggest that Draffan was once the centre of a busy community, with large enclosed sites, possibly dating to the Iron Age, dominating the plateau on which the farm sits.

One of cropmarks at Draffan was visible in 1864 when JB Greenshields noted that “On the farm of Draffan was a small camp regularly constructed, of a circular form, having a diameter of about 60ft but now much obliterated”. Since the mid 19th century this site has been ploughed away and can now only be seen from the air.

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Aerial photo of crop marks at Draffan courtesy of HES Scotland.

The green arrow indicates a crop mark.

Names and Places Dalserf and Nemphlar

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Maps are not just important for understanding how places developed over time and for navigation; they also record a host of information about place names. Working alongside volunteers, we have discovered a whole host of interesting places with long and important histories.

Many of the place names in the Clyde and Avon Valley have a long history, with some referring back to the time of the Kingdom of Strathclyde and the Brittonic language speakers of the area. Others are Gaelic in origin while many more are of Scots origin.

Two place names in the Clyde and Avon Valley worthy of mention are Nemphlar and Dalserf. Nemphlar is possibly Brittonic in origin and possibly refers to an ancient assembly place where a king or noble would hold law courts. Who was this noble and why was the area around Nemphlar chosen as an important assembly place?

Dalserf is also an intriguing place name. Dal means at meadow beside a river in Gaelic, while Serf is a Pictish Saint, with places referring to him more commonly found in Fife. Why is this Saint commemorated here, and has it got anything to do with the 10th century Viking hogback gravestone in the Kirkyard?

The Dalserf Hogback Stone. â—‹ Extract from Joan Blaeu 1654, The netherward of Clyds-dail and Glasco.

Geology

Mapping Underground

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NS 719 536

Historically, one of the most important industries in Lanarkshire was mining. At its height, the industry employed thousands of people across the region and much of the landscape was altered forever due to the massive extent of the coal extraction.

Maps played a key role in the exploitation of this valuable resource and were especially important in charting the extent of each of the collieries.

These maps continue to be important however, as they allow us to build a picture the scale of the mining industry in the late 19th and early part of the 20th century and help engineers understand how these mines might aect future construction.

The map included here is that of the Cadzow Colliery next to Chatelherault, one of a number of collieries in the area, including Niesland, Eddlewood, Fairhill, Bent, Allanshaw, Silverton, Barncluith and the Quarter Colliery’s, each of which was mapped in meticulous detail.

Cadzow Colliery Map Insert.

Map of Cadzow Colliery.

Falls of Clyde

Alasdair Gray Mural

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NS 866 438

Painted in 1969, Alasdair Gray’s “Falls of Clyde” is one of Clydesdale’s hidden gems. Located in the Riverside Tavern at Kirkfieldbank, the 35 foot long mural maps out Gray’s own impression of the River Clyde, combining important natural and cultural heritage features.

You can view the painting when the Tavern is open. Why not stop in for a refreshment after visiting the other sites on our guide? It’s a real treat for those interested in the creative side of map making.

Alasdair Gray’s Mural, The Falls of Clyde.

“I tried to make this long, narrow mural combine many views of the Clyde gorge from Bonnington Lynn to Cora Lynn and New Lanark, being well aware that the Falls had been painted by many great landscape artists, including Turner."

Alasdair Gray, quoted in Carluke Gazette 24/4/2009

Extract from Joan Blaeu 1654, The netherward of Clyds-dail and Glasco.

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HER ITAG E CAVLP Heritage projects are funded by the Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership, Historic Environment Scotland, and the Renewable Energy Fund managed by South Lanarkshire Council.

CAVLP Heritage is delivered by Northlight Heritage.